I first read this manga after hearing that it was hilarious. Personally, I find it groan-worthy or 'cute' at best. There are certainly plenty of funnier manga out there (Gokusen, for example... or Skip Beat, quite often).

But then I realized I was approaching this manga from the wrong perspective. You're invited to think about the situations presented, and the way Kintaro deals with them, instead of simply laughing and forgetting. This becomes all the clearer as the plotline develops and becomes more convoluted, more sardonic, and increasingly dark. So here's a warning - don't read this if all you want is laughs. There's plenty of disturbing material (and art!) in there.

So yeah, the thinking behind this manga is deep. But! There could certainly have been a better story behind it. All too often Kintaro's genius seems too much like a deus ex machina - a mere device to set everything right, without any explanation for its power. Particularly in the earlier volumes, the readers get too little access to the analytic, planning, or otherwise intellectual powers that are the main attraction of 'genius' characters. Since Kintaro doesn't usually act like an intellectual, the products of his 'genius' (devices, programs, and whatnot) feel too much like mere plot devices to be convincing.

That being said, Kintaro is still an endearing character, which leads me to my second complaint. In at least two extended arcs Kintaro disappears for several chapters at a time. At the same time, the readers are submitted to long guilt-tripping lectures and brain-washing sermons. So maybe these harangues give the manga (part of) its depth. However, their length, frequency, and repetitiveness feels seriously overdone, especially when paired with the almost incessant, hardcore sex acts in or around those chapters.

The lack of Kintaro is an evil which increases exponentially when one considers the pitiful lack of character development. What else could one expect, when Kintaro is the only character who appears in more arcs than one until the volume 6 'golden water' arc? And considering that the earlier volumes are mostly filled with short one- or two-chapter arcs? In fact, Kintaro is the only character who is (kind of) developed, which means when he doesn't appear, you're left with a bunch of supporting characters who you can't really identify with, and who are usually undergoing bizarre experiences that it would be difficult to imagine oneself sharing anyway. Now throw in a bunch of morally questionable lectures, and you're left with a narration which has an entertainment value lower than some essays.

I've already kind of touched on my third (and final... for now) complaint - the lack of coherency between arcs. The readers are told that Kintaro is always searching for something to learn, but how he jumps from one job to another, what impacts his earlier experiences have on later ones, how come no one ever seems to manage to catch him etc... none of that is touched on. Not until the 'golden water' arc do any supporting characters from earlier arcs appear again. The good thing about this is it makes it very easy for one to drop this manga after any arc. The bad thing is there's no great inducement for the reader to continue reading it after any arc. The plot seems to reset after an arc, and no real progress is made. Maybe I'm just impatient, but allow me to just say, it gets extremely frustrating after a while.

So, conclusion: Read this if you want to read a critical take on society and people's desires, or if you just want to see a lot of action 'in the bedroom' (and elsewhere...), but if you're looking for entertainment from some other factor, go away and read something else.

This is a great manga for anyone who's mature and open. I do agree that I skimmed an arc that was too much for me. And near the end, it was too fast and weird too. It's a fun read, and the concept is fresh.

My guy friend recommend this to me. He wasn't sure if a girl like me would want to read something such as this from a shoujo-manga background. I loved it! It's not like a whimpy guy or hot bishounen getting all the girls; nor was it about a naive and ignorant girl being swayed and influenced by hot bishies, and cries 3/4 of the time without standing up for herself. The explanation here is just beautiful. There's better but things are set up for a reason most of the time. If you thought it was "just a waste of time" like the below reviewer, I hope you're saying it after reading and understanding the story first.

To the person who said they've "I watched ALL KIND of animes and read ALL KIND of mangas, from shoujo to horror, action and even hentai if they've git a good plot," and still not understand where this is going is beyond help as the below reviewer states.

*I'm not going to recommend this to any readers but it won't do much harm to try a few volumes.

Getting a little bit too much weird in the end.
Still a very nice manga, don't mind the comment below mine... he complitely missed the point of this manga in so many way it's useless to even reply him.

I can't understand how anyone could find this good. I watch all kind of animes and read all kind of mangas, from shoujo to horror, action and even hentai if they've git a good plot.
Which this definitely hadn't. The hero was just a loser who had good luck. All the girls around him fell for him, because... Yeah that's the question, why? It's true that he sometimes helped out, but all he really did was stare at the girls and run away when he had seen enough of them. And they all just followed him because he was such a 'golden boy'. Sure.
The art was not as bad as the story, but that wasn't thanks to the boy who looked just like the loser he was. The women all had big breasts and of course as good as none clothing on. But that's typical for ecchi and mature mangas so it doesn't disturb me (though other women might find it degragading).

In my opinion this is great for boys who want to live in their little fantasy world where all women love them, but for all who want to read something more realistic there are far better mangas.
And like I already said I can't see any women with good taste in men liking this.

Starts with easygoing comedy then becomes deeper and deeper and then drowns in metaphors and allegories, not very easy to understand. Deep part begins around Miho Midorigawa arc.
Don't judge this manga directly without trying to understand it. There are a lot of exaggeration there.
And as always anime-adaptation leaves out main part of manga using 5 simplest chapters.

Let's start off by saying this manga is not for minors, lol. Golden Boy is indeed good. I personally cannot stop reading it. The first couple of chapters are really hilarious, light-hearted, and sweet and simple. Basically, Kintaro arrives at a new destination. Meet a gorgeous woman at the place he works, does something that capture their hearts, and then leaves. However, as most people mentioned before, in the later chapters the story goes really in-depth. A couple of chapters get dedicated to that one destination, and the events get really bizarre and almost boarders disturbing. Not to say this is not a good manga. It's a fun read, and I recommend. However, do keep in mind that the later chapters will probably not appeal to everybody.

This one is realy strange.

first 3 volumes are gr8. Later the greater storyline starts to evolve and couse i was able to read only translated version(c42 now) I don't know what to say.

10/10 - just read it.

The anime was great, and the initial manga is good also.... Then it starts getting freakish with the fetishes. Example, about v4c40+ is about a girl who has people addicted to drinking her urine.... In other words, it's messed up, especially compared to how amusing it was earlier.

Perverted femdom hentai which you can actually read. And laugh. And be inspired. And true, it is full of crap. And what do you expect? Scientific comedy? That's oxymoron.

Goldenboy, is interesting in the beginning when Kintarou is focused primarily on gaining new experiences with diverse groups of people. He has a mission to "study" why people live the way they do. For the first few volumes, Kintarou's adventures and findings are insightful and entertaining, Egawa being sure to throw in lots of fan service. But towards the later volumes, everything gets wacky and Egawa presents his true objectives, giving a critical look at the current human condition and where we went wrong. But his critiques are poorly researched and structured. He wants to make comments on a global world through a specific Japanese lens. And on top of that, each arcs plot gets more complex and exaggerated till the point you're wondering what corner he buys his crack from. Its just not worth the read. I rank it a 4 for the earlier funny plotlines.